Well, if you haven't gotten your significant other a Valentine's present by now, I hope you can get comfortable sleeping next to the lathe for the next several days
@RustyFN showed us his first turned lidded box and it is gorgeous.
Read about it here and check out the comments from our turners-
Carl Jacobson turned a floating vase, about a month ago. Notice his use of Easy Wood Tools and the Easy Wood chuck!
I think if I hadn't learned to turn, I might have tried my hand at painting. I always marveled at the painters on public television when they created a picture. Although he has passed away, Bob Ross was one I enjoyed. That's probably why I found this Tim Yoder turning video so amusing-
Some of you may have an income from your turning. With tax season upon us, I thought this video from Mike Peace may be of interest-
Check some of the comments, with the video, on YouTube. Several respondents were folks who worked as tax consultants and they added additional information.
Rick turnes added his list of videos for January 2018-
The Woodworking Show is going to be in Kansas City, MO this weekend- February 16 and 17. Our most generous sponsor Easy Wood Tools will be there! Check here for additional information-
Click on the above image to link to more information.
I have been playing with a little holly bowl. The wood came from a tree that was planted, in 1969, at the school where I taught. The tree had been cut back many times over the years due to size a weather damage so none of the trunk pieces were extremely large- although the base near the ground is close to 2 feet across. I turned the bowl green- the outside shape one evening and finished the inside the next day. The wall thickness is about 3/16". There were a couple of stress cracks in the log before I started but they didn't get any larger after completion. The inertia sander I made works great! The pictures are before any finish is applied. I'm using rattle can lacquer but need to get a buffing wheel to smooth the surface of the spray.
You can see the bowl went from round to slightly oblong during the process. When it is finished, I'll give it to the school. I still have a couple more chunks and also a holly natural edge bowl but some of the bark split off during the final turning.
I also finished up the piece I was turning from Manzanita. It had that large void that I filled with Alumilite. I couldn't get the "bowl" part polished as well as I would have liked. Everything went south when I tried to use Micromesh pads. I guess it was the difference in the density between the wood and acrylic. Also the pads left traces of their color on the wood. I should mention that I did not stabilize the Manzanita. I'm calling this one "Crater" because it reminds me of a volcano.
Finally, I guess someone likes my rolling pins. Got this in the mail today-
Who a thunk it??
Safe turning

Saturday, Phyl and I went to Jim Grey's Petrified Wood store in Holbrook, AZ to get some pics of his collection of Manzanita burls and, once again marvel at his beautiful petrified wood creations.
Here is some of the pics.
These are the smallest. About 6-8" long and some that wide or less.
This next sized ones are around 8" and thicker.
The largest ones are about the size of your head. Phyl is holding one of the smaller ones in that box. Selected for it's interesting formation.
Here are a few more pics from the store.
This base is Manzanita and the top is a polished slab of petrified wood. $2K for the base and 7K for the top.
This is a solid slab of petrified wood inlayed in an unknown wood table. Price is $28K. Doesn't include the chairs.
Just a small sampling of Jim's wares. The store is around 100X100 and chock full. It sets on about 50 acres of nothing but Petrified wood logs he's collected from all over the US and other countries.
Finally, here's a a new frend we made.

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